June 10th.

That was the last time I flew in preparation for the Dallas contest. I usually fly every morning so this is quite a lay off. We left Dallas Saturday afternoon and came home, busted wing/arm in a sling. My wife got a date with the orthopedic doctor and had a total shoulder replacement a week later. That was a week ago and should see the doctor next week. It was also a reverse replacement. From what I can find out that means the shoulder socket is now on the arm bone and the arm ball is now on the shoulder. I'll find out why next week. The conversion of my P40-Q into a Navion L-17 is coming along quite slowly because of the broken arm. I'm going to try epoxy finish on the sheeeted foam wing instead of tissue and dope. I've squared off the rounded stabilizer tips and made a new fin/rudder. I ordered olive drab paint from Aircraft Spruce and it ended up being enamel not dope. I'll use it anyway and for the clear coat I'll use 2 part 2K Max spray paint. That should make it fuel proof. The new Legacy 40 is ready for another coat of white as soon as the air dries up a bit. I ran out of white after one coat a month ago and got some more when the humidity shot up. Nothing to do but wait.

One up, two down.

We got to the hotel around 4 pm Friday. Saturday morning had a storm that blew through quickly and didn't impact the contest. Things progressed fairly quickly and I was to be first up in the Old Time Stunt event. Some other guy fell in the longish grass and sprained an ankle. As I was about to fuel my plane I was told that my wife had tripped over a speed bump and was hurting. I packed up and brought her to a hospital where x-rays were taken that confirmed a fracture. We went to the hotel and packed up and checked out and headed for home. On Monday she got an appointment at the orthopedics and more x-rays were taken and another appointment for a total shoulder replacement next Monday, 6/21. The next local contest is Labor Day back in Dallas.

New tech trial.

The elevator strips work. One side effect is they produce a lot of drag which is why they work. I have them on 4 planes and all benefit from them. I am in the process of trimming the strips down from 1/8" high to whatever gets me less drag and good performance. I think each plane will be different as some don't have as much drag as others now. I started wet sanding the white base coat. It's awful. I sanded a lot of it off and now I'm spraying primer and sanding that. It's looking a lot better so far. And with the extra time it's taking I've come up with a color scheme that should be nice. But I never can count on it.

New technology.

At the El dorado contest there was a plane with things on the elevators that didn't look right. The owner was explaining them to another so I joined in. The things are 1/8 x 1/4 rectangular cross section strips attached at the trailing edge of the elevators. It seems they make the plane more stable in flight and especially after a turn. Two weeks later I gave them a try on a plane that wasn't stable enough to suit me. I used strips of balsa stuck on with two sided tape. They create noticable drag and make the plane more stable just like he said. I figured that once isn't enough so I put some strips on my Nomad 5. Again the same very good result. I slapped some strips on the Jamison and it now flys a lot better.The only thing I can liken it to is putting larger feathers on an arrow.No matter what the strips work.I'll have to try one with the strips on the rudder trailing edge instead of the elevators. I had the chance to paint the base white on the Legacy 40. I still can't figure out what trim scheme to put on it. I've looked at a lot of pictures and nothing strikes me. If I run out of things to do I can start wet sanding the base coat. The lawn needed mowing as rain is forecast for a while again. Last week one of the mowers wasn't cutting at the same height as the other two. I thought it was just a wheel adjustment gone awry.I found out that the bad mower base was rusted so bad it was flexing and ready to break in half. In Moosup I had several extra mowers to pick from but I left them when we moved south. I was fortunate to have two mowers given to me since we've een here, both with solid bases and engines. I picked the better of the two and installed the attachments so it can be pulled by the riding mower. Then I removed all the hardware and engine from the broken mower, folded the base in half and put it in the trash can. The engine runs very well and will be used as a spare.

Together again.

I flew the Legacy with the .52 engine. The conbo didn't work as I hoped. The fasteners I used to hold the engine inplace would stay tight and the added movement screwed things up. I put the engine back into the Ringmaster and the screws came loose in that plane. A dab of thread locker fixed that problem. I may not be able to remove the engine as I use "T" nuts that are not accessable and they like to rotate if used in the wrong way. I'm testing other planes to figure out which ones to take to the Dallas contest. The newest one is coming along well. My fuel supply is running low and I tried to find a gallon of Klotz Original synthetic oil and could only find quarts at Summit Racing. I ordered four and plan to mix the next batch 50/50 with castor oil to stretch the oil. It's a favorite mix for this kind of flying. I saw a battery at the El Dorado contest and found it and ordered 3. I charged them today and may fly them tomorrow if the weather holds out. They are 5 cell 3000 mAh and weigh less than a 4 cell 3300 mAh battery. Plentyof power in the plane at the contest and they were barely warm after a flight.

Spare engines.

The engine I used for the Legacy 40 came out of the Ringmaster Excel. I have a spare engine even larger from the P40-Q that is getting re finished. Since the .52 I put in the Legacy and the .60 I took off the P40 are made from the same crankcase/block by the same manufacturer I figured I would put the larger engine in the Ringmaster. The engine is a bolt in swap but I'm using the tank in the Legacy so I had to produce a suitable fuel tank for the Ringmaster. That took several hours as there isn't much room in the tank compartment. It's finally ready for a test flight. Except it's been raining most of the day so far and the forecast isn't good for two more days. The next contest is in Dallas in early June. I plan to use the Jamison in the Old Time Stunt event and the Classic Stunt event. I've never did the new pattern of maneuvers with it just the Old Time pattern so I need to try that along wiht trim flights on the others.

The old is new again.

I built the Legacy 40 from plans enlarged from a magazine in the early part of 2014. I didn't know it but the plans gave the plane a too long nose. It didn't fly that well but I kept it anyway. After several years I found out about the nose and shortened it. It flew much better so I re painted it which came out better than my previous attempts. I got a kit of the same plane and started building it. I plan to use a larger engine as the one I have in the first one isn't quite enough. Today I flew the first copy and once home I removed the engine and re fit the larger engine so I can see how it will fly with more power. It took several hours to get the engine to fit and come up with a larger fuel tank. It's finally ready for a test flight.

After many flights with my own design Hound Dog I figured I should build another. I built the first one In 2012 and had many podium finishes with it at contests. I have 4 short trimming flights with it now and it flys quite well. I'm working on calming the turns down as they are too sharp.